U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,423,321 and 5,517,997, the latter assigned to the assignee of the present invention, disclose the use of an infrared emitter and infrared detector for visualizing and thus permitting determination of location of body members to be protected or managed during a surgical procedure adjacent such member.
The subject matter of the aforesaid patents as related to equipment employed in such procedures is incorporated herein by reference.
As indicated above, the prior efforts in this field have been related essentially to protecting or managing members by locating them. These efforts were not related to precisely locating and identifying the region of members to be involved in the procedures.